Ace’s Official

Ch. 2 - Paths

The raven haired boy walked back to his home, he finished the pastry halfway the path, it was a tasty treat for his unlucky day.

He didn’t plan to immediately see his brothers, Sabo should be writing in his room and Luffy might be running off to find beetles, he already planned a way to secretly go back to his room without anyone noticing, but luck isn’t on his side today.

On the wooden bench near the front door, slowly putting his book down, the blonde haired boy immediately noticed his arm,

“that’s unusually neat and clean, you usually slap a leaf at it and call it a day”

Ace braced himself, hiding the bandage with his hand, Luffy jumped off from the tree and went to his side with curiosity

“woah! That’s not your style Ace!” He grinned.

“you didn’t do that yourself” Sabo let out a small chuckle, he didn’t push with any words, just his annoying smug look.

“So who did it? you stumbled upon makino?” Luffy jumped in excitement for the simplest possibilities.

Ace rolled his eyes “..Aya”

“Aya? the midwife’s daughter Ayara you mean?” Sabo raised his eyebrows.

“Aya? the girl with the weird hair?” Luffy slightly nudged on his bandage. Ace pulled his arm away “quit it Luffy! and it’s not weird”

He sighed “it got personality”

Sabo laughed at that, “what happened anyway? I thought you only went down there to fix Mrs. Lenny's roof?”

Luffy chuckles, walking back to sit next to Sabo “I thought he’s trying to ditch his chores”.

Ace’s cheeks reddened from the memory of what had happened “I fell that’s all.”

The boy fell quiet for a moment before mumbling something “..her stare is weird”

“What is that?”

“Nothing.” He scowled before walking into the house.

Sabo and Luffy watched him march in quietly, looking at each other before going back to their own business “well he’s in a bad mood”

“Not quite bad I think.”

—-

The next day, down in the Village,

Aya had tied her dark green hair with a simple red ribbon, the very ribbon she cherished so much, a gift from her late father.

She walked down the path near the forest, looking for some plants or herbs she could snatch, humming to herself. But as she kneeled down to the ground, she could feel something in her senses, and right when she looked up, she saw him.

The mountain boy she patched up last time, is sitting on the tree. She's very sure he’s trying to seem like he blends in with his surroundings, but Aya's eyes are pretty sharp.

She looked up at him, “does he think I can’t see him?” She thought to herself.

Ace felt his heart hammering, squeezing the branch as he peek down at her, not knowing his very hidden spot is not very secretive anymore, “why the hell am I here again?”.

He’s not supposed to be there spying on her, he was supposed to hunt, but the moment he realized he’s near her home of the midwife, which is weird because the path shouldn’t be near here- he immediately climbed up to the tree, and right as he expected, she showed up.

Aya thought about calling him out, but she also wanna see how far this would go, how long he'd sit there. So she placed her herbs filled basked down, and sat on the very tree he’s on.

Ace gasped quietly, cursing himself for the lack of planning. Now what he’s going to do? If he jumps to the other tree is she going to notice?

she’ll definitely notice, he can feel her earlier staring in his bones.

He’s supposed to be the skilled mountain boy, but the moment he tried to stand up his feet slipped,

“oof-!”

His reflexes saved him, hands holding tight to one of the branches for dear life.

Aya heard the sound and immediately stood up, looking up in concern “hey! are you okay? I know you’re up there Portgas”

He braced himself, sighed loudly “yeah.. fuck- I’m here, surprise”

“Well get down! I can’t exactly fix your bones if they're broken!”

This time he calculated properly, with a loud thump he stepped on the ground after jumping from the tree. Aya stared at him with amusement for a second before her cold green eyes immediately relaxed again, judging.

“you were spying on me”

“I was not! It was a coincidence!”

The girl huffed lightly, slowly standing up from where she had sat and patting her dress clean from the dirt.

“Well, glad I didn’t have to fix any bones today”

He let out a smug chuckle, hand on his hips as he tilted his head, a habit that he has when he’s looking intensely to learn what’s in front of him.

“You tied your hair, I can see the black parts”

Aya subconsciously places one of her hands to touch her hair “huh? oh yeah, I don’t want it to get in the way”.

They both fell silent, Ace for once didn’t have any comeback, he can only keep glancing at how her ivory neck is clear for him to see today.

Nothing but the sound of leaves moving and their breathing filled the space, aya let out a small huff before placing her hands back to hold her basket.

Aya finally breaks the silence “Well, I’ll be going” squeezing her basket, she usually stares at people dead in their eyes, but him, she’s making excuses that he’s too tall for her to stare at, but she knows that’s not the reason.

“yeah, whatever” he mumbled,

He spared one last glance at her, and she did too, her sharp eyes meeting his sleepy ones. The moment it happened Aya practically sped walk away, not wanting him to realize she’s slowly losing her cool.

—

Ace returned to his home, he got a single rabbit on the way back. Luffy was a bit disappointed because Ace is one of their best hunters “did we already hunt too much?”

“You were gone too long” Sabo also commented,

“Took the long path” Ace muttered

Luffy glanced at Sabo, then back at Ace, always weirdly knowing of all

“Did you see her again?”

Ace didn’t answer, tossed the rabbit at him and went inside.

———-

Ch. 1 - The Boy and The Girl

Morning breeze, the sound of birds chirping, some people of the village waking up and starting to do their own things for the day. Makino had stopped by earlier to drop a few pastries that Reyna had ordered.

Aya’s hands were holding the wooden broom with determination, to sweep off every single dust of the porch. Her lime green eyes looking sharply at where she’s sweeping, brows knitting in concentration.

The fresh pastries sat on the small table near the door, still warm, she didn’t immediately put it inside, too focused to finish her first chores in the morning. Ayara is the daughter of the village’s infamous midwife. In the foosha village, Reyna Canygo is the woman who works day and night to help people across the village.

She had left before the sun even came up to look after her recent patient. Aya sometimes would help her mama with her work, being the best assistant she is. Her hands used to react whenever her mama needed anything.

“That floor will break if you keep sweeping the same place for the fifth time”

The young girl’s movements stopped for a moment, she’s not expecting any guests today, unless it’s some person who needs tending. She slowly moved her head to look at the source of voice, she scoffed, her round-shaped eyes narrowed slightly. Portgas D Ace, the mountain boy. Wearing an unbuttoned shirt and his black denim shorts, his orange hat is always there too.

He’s not the type to be friendly or talk with just anyone, aya has that privilege by being the midwife’s daughter, she had gone to dadan’s house before to check on sick luffy. She had met Ace, who kept scowling every time someone said anything.

He’s currently sitting on her fences, long legs dangling at one side as he chews on some long grass that he had picked up somewhere. Aya stopped her work for a moment, needing to place her hands on her hips to give the very-serious look.

“you’ll fall and crack your skull open portgas, get down”

He didn’t care about her warning, his eyes stare at the moving leaves, watching the birds flying away. “I’m not a kid” He replied with a small chuckle, challenging her by starting to pull one leg up to show off his balance.

that annoyed her, aya huffed and turned around as she continued on sweeping, “whatever, I warned you.” It’s definitely too early to start bickering but what does he care about? Her lips still chant a few complaints that’s too light for his ears to catch but he knows she’s cursing him.

“You’re not helping your mom today?”

aya slowed her movements just a bit, “why are you asking?” answered with a question instead.

“why not?” he simply said, he looked at her like it’s the most obvious answer, everyone knows the midwife’s daughter, everyone knows about how diligent and cold she is. How sharp her eyes are, how she looks at everyone with judgement, but that doesn’t scare him.

“you’re the midwife’s precious daughter”

“and you’re dadan’s biggest headache” aya spat immediately, her lips puckered a little in annoyance. His smile widened from her attitude, “you like me or something?”

“I do not! just get off my fences, portgas!”

He rolled his eyes while chuckling lightly “so stingy, it’s just fences, if it break down I can fix-“ he couldn’t finish that sentence, he tried to jump off the fence to show off his skills, but the universe isn’t on his side today, his ankle stuck on the fence so he fell face flat on the dirt, lucky it wasn’t the puddle.

aya gasped, she immediately let the broom fall behind her as she speed walked to him, she saw how weirdly placed his leg is. “God- Ace are you okay?!” she didn’t wait for him to answer as she knelt beside him, her hands immediately moving to his shoulders, trying to help him back up “I told you didn’t I!”

The boy, too embarrassed to say anything, face flushed red, dirt on his hair and forehead, he braced himself with his hands, slowly lifting his body with a groan, he couldn’t even look at her direction. Can’t even push away the delicate hands that are currently holding his dirty shirts.

Aya didn’t care that he’s embarrassed or not, her eyes spotted his arm bleeding from whatever had scraped it when he fell. “oh my god- wait, ace, let me-“ she touched his bleeding arm.

Ace pulled his arm away as he groans“it’s nothing”

She huffed “It’s not nothing! Don’t you dare move, I’ll be back” aya warned him, she pointed at his face before running back inside her house to find a first aid kit.

Ace thought about leaving, she might chase him to the mountains just to fix his bleeding arm, he rather not have luffy or sabo laugh at his face watching him get taken care of.

he sat on her porch, grumbling to the world for his fall today.

Aya busy cleaning his wounds, “stay still, you’re a big guy aren’t you”

“I’m not moving that mu.. FUCK- hey that shit hurt” he tried to pull his arm away

aya rolled her eyes “oh it’s just a little sting tiger, you’ll survive” grabbed his wrist to make him stay still,

“you’re a cruel woman..” he stared back at her, aya only give him a sharp look with her green eyes, hand still dabbing his wound lightly “sure”

He stared at the top of her head, watching her long dark green hair move slightly from the wind, he tilted his head slightly, seeing glimpses of black strands behind her neck under the green hair, he thought it was an amusing secret that he found out.

“there, good to go. Next time, listen when someone warns you shits portgas”

it’s finally wrapped in clean bandages, he survived, he stared at the neat wrapping, before looking back at her with a stupid grin “gee, thanks”.

he didn’t leave empty handed.

walking back to the mountains with pastry on his mouth, bandages on his arm. He had only gone down there to run a few errands, annoyed her out of boredom, but his heart felt warm and full now.

The girl cleaned her porch, looking back to the spot where he had fallen earlier and chuckled to herself “idiot”,

she went back inside, plating the pastries that her mother brought, missing one piece.

Reyna had come home, taking off her boots on the entryway, her gentle voice filled the quiet “why are you smiling to yourself?” Her warm hand gently touches Aya's cheek.

“nothing mama..”

Tom opened the back door, breathing heavily “it’s freezing like crazy today!” He threw his boots and coat to the side. He just finished his own duty with the chickens and ducks. Brushing the cold away from his white with black tips hair.

“Tom, I just cleaned there!” Aya groaned,

“Well clean it again.. it’s cold” he rushed to her side, grabbing a pastry and shoved it into his mouth before walking away to his bedroom.

“dramatic, it’s not even that cold” She huffed to herself as she placed his boots on the proper place. Reyna is already sitting with her coffee mug on one hand, only smiling from her children's small fight.

——————